Saturday, January 23, 2016

Another Busy Week at Qwanoes

Our students wrote another paper

This past week, students wrote a paper on the meaning and theology of Justification.  This was done for their previous class on the Pauline Epistles.  Many students throughout the beginning of the week could be seen around the lodge digging into their textbooks and writing their papers.  We were excited to see how this paper sparked many conversations amongst the students about this topic.

We went curling!

After the students finished their papers, we loaded up the vans and drove into town to the Duncan Curling Club.  This was a cool experience for most of our students as many of them had never been curling before.  After a standard training session, we split into teams to play against each other.  Although most of us we’re not very good, we all had a great time learning with each other how to curl!  Qwanoes and the Kaléo Program would like to thank the Duncan Curling Club and their staff for a great afternoon and for taking the time to teach us this great sport!






Qwanoes hosted the Cowichan Valley Youth Night

The Cowichan Valley Youth Night is an annual event by Qwanoes that brings together youth groups, from this area of the island, for a unified night called One.  The idea is that youth groups will have a chance to experience the love of Christ with other youth groups around the valley as one body together.  Our favourite part of this event is that our Kaléo Program students are the ones who plan and run the entire event!  Students are assigned to different areas, and from there they are to plan the night from scratch, while Qwanoes staff seeks to support them by giving advice and teaching them.  Overall the night proved to be very successful as we had our biggest turnout to date with over 200 students and leaders attending!  We were proud of our students for carrying out such a large task and doing such a great job of it!






Please be in prayer…

As we draw closer towards our program’s missions trips, students are planning hard for their selective areas.  Please be in prayer for them as they prepare mentally and physically for their trips to Mexico and Vancouver.  Also be in prayer that they would raise the support and funds that they need for their trips.  Thank you so much for your love and support towards our students!

In Him,

Dustin Smith
Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Hello Again From Camp Qwanoes!

We hit the slopes of Mt. Washington!

Last week we spent five days in the beautiful resort of Mt. Washington.  A two hour drive north of Camp Qwanoes, Mt. Washington is home to many winter activities such as alpine and nordic skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and tubing.  The larger part of our trip however was spent on the slopes of the mountain.  Although most of the time we faced fog and low visibility, we were able to enjoy a great amount of snow, which allowed for fresh powder and soft wipe-outs!



We stayed in a beautiful chalet!

While the daytime was spent on the mountain, the evenings were spent relaxing in a beautiful ski-in/ski-out chalet right beside the main chairlift.  This was a great place for us to share meals, play games, relax, and engage in nightly worship.  We even brought along Colleen, Qwanoes’ Head of Food Services, to help us cook and prepare meals.  The chalet also featured two hot tubs that we were able to enjoy after long days on the mountain. 



We also went tubing and snowshoeing

We also did other activities throughout the week to give us a break from the slopes.  Mid-week we spent an afternoon at the Mt. Washington tubing park.  It was great to do something different, and not to mention, FAST!

Our last day at the resort was spent snowshoeing down the mountain, as well as some minor survival and navigation training.  We were also taught how to build snow caves for sleeping in!  This was easily one of the highlights for most of our students and we enjoyed hiking around the mountain in the snow!







Missions Trips

As I touched on last week, our students will be leaving in February on missions trips to either downtown Vancouver or Mexico.  We are excited to see students and leaders beginning to prepare their trips and plans for missions.  We would ask that you would be in prayer for our students as they prepare, as well as their financial needs would be met.  If you are interested in financially supporting one or more students for their missions trip, please visit the donation page of our website http://www.qwanoes.ca/year-round/development .  Also, don't forget to specify which student you are supporting.  Thank you so much for your support and prayers!  If you have any other questions regarding donations or about the missions trips, feel free to contact myself at dustin@qwanoes.ca

Please be in prayer

Please be in prayer for our students as they finish up projects and write papers for theirprevious class.  Also be in prayer for the upcoming missions trips in the Kaléo Program.  Many students are already hard at work to prepare for their trips and we are hoping that God will start to prepare the hearts of both our students, leaders, and the people that they will be interacting with in their respective missions.  Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

In Him,

Dustin Smith
Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes

Friday, January 8, 2016

Happy New Year From Camp Qwanoes!

We’re happy to see our students back at camp!

After a long break for Christmas and New years, it was great to see our students return to Qwanoes and hear the stories of their travels and time off from the program.  For most of the students, it was business as usual as they jumped right into their churches the next day, serving in their regular areas.  

We played life-sized Game of LIFE!

Sunday night however, we as a leadership team decided to welcome them back with a mock “Youth Group” night, in which the students were the ones attending and myself, Melanie, Lyann and Andrew acted as youth leaders.  Based upon the popular “Game of LIFE”, students traveled to different stations around the room such as careers, family, school, finance and community service.  This was a great opportunity to relax and gain a few laughs as we welcomed each other back into the Kaléo Program.  It was also used as a learning experience for students to get an inside look on how to run a basic youth group night.

Class is back in session

Starting Monday students began their class with Josh Stigall learning about the Pauline Epistles.  This class is fairly intensive for the students as most of the work they do will be preparing for class presentations and group work.  It has been great to see our students putting so much work into their projects as well and working in groups all around Pacific Woods Lodge!



Next week we are hitting the slopes!

Many students, as well as myself, are getting very excited for our five day trip up Mt. Washington next week.  Bright and early Monday morning, we will be heading up to the beautiful mountain resort where we will be spending three days skiing and snowboarding on the slopes and one day enjoying the resort.  We will also be staying in a luxurious chalet located right beside the hill, equipped with two hot tubs for our enjoyment!  This week students will be helping in the kitchen to prepare food for our trip, and they are having a lot of fun doing so!


Preparations for missions trips are under way

As many of you have hopefully been told over the break, our students will be leaving in February on missions trips to either downtown Vancouver or Mexico.  We are excited to see students and leaders beginning to prepare their trips and plans for missions.  We would ask that you would be in prayer for our students as they prepare, as well as prayer for their financial needs too.  If you are interested in financially supporting one or more students for their missions trip, please visit the donation page on our website http://www.qwanoes.ca/year-round/development .  Also, don't forget to specify which student you are supporting.  Thank you so much for your support and prayers!  If you have any other questions regarding donations or about the missions trips themselves feel free to contact myself at dustin@qwanoes.ca 

Please be in prayer…

Please be in prayer for our students as they finish up with their current class projects, as well as preparing for their upcoming exam.  Also, please be in prayer for safety and wisdom during our Mt. Washington trip and that this would be a great time for students to connect and build stronger relationships as we enter this new season.

In Him,

Dustin Smith
Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes